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There is NO guarantee that you will have access to the auditorium on the self-guided or guided tours as there could be rehearsals going on. There were complaints that the chandelier obstructed the view and Lenepveu’s painting of the ceiling by those sitting in the box seats on the fourth level. The chandelier in the centre has 340 lights, weighs 8 tons, and is made of bronze and crystal. This is the painting that is there today however, there continues to be controversy about the painting and whether it is appropriate for its surroundings, where many consider it too modern. Interesting fact #6: Lenepveu’s painting was considered too old-fashioned and in 1964, French Culture Minister, André Malraux, commissioned artists Marc Chagall to paint a new ceiling. The style of the architecture throughout was eclectic with a mix of Greek, Baroque, Renaissance, and Beaux-Arts styles. We were brought to various rooms and areas in the building, including the famed auditorium, where you can see the famous painting that Marc Chagall did on the ceiling. It became a national heritage site-“Monument Historique“- in 1923. The Paris Opera House is one of the largest and opulent opera houses in Europe, seating almost 2000 people. The story and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical of the same name has certainly made the Palais Garnier even more famous. In 1910, author Gaston Leroux used the area of water or “lake” of stores as well as the chandelier incident as inspiration for his famous story, Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera).
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Interesting fact #4: in 1896, a part of an enormous chandelier-a counterweight-broke free and fell, killing one person. Interesting fact #3: during the construction, water kept seeping into the basement, and eventually a pond was formed and Garnier decided to create an artificial reservoir or pond to hold the water. The opera house was originally called Salle des Capucines but became known as the Palais Garnier, named after the architect. Electrical lighting was installed in 1881. Palais Garnier was finally completed January 5, 1875. Interesting fact #2: the Opera House was so expensive that the government had to borrow over half of the money (4.9 million francs) from wealthy entrepreneur, François Blanc, who managed Monaco’s Monte Carlo Casino. The Paris Opera house was one of the most expensive buildings to be built at a cost of 7.5 million francs. He began construction of the Opera in 1861. Architect Charles Garnier was one of 7 finalists and after revising his project, it was finally selected as the winning design. There would be 2 phrases where applicants would be narrowed down to 7 in the 2nd phase. This was done with the help of Baron Haussmann.Ī competition was established to choose a design for the new Opera House. Napoleon III was on a mission to reconstruct and modernize Paris, adding sewers, creating grand boulevards and more light to the area. She began our tour by telling us some stories about the opera’s history. She took us to various areas and rooms and gave us time to take photos, wander around a bit, and ask questions.
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Of course, she elaborated on the Phantom of the Opera and parts of the story that were true and not true. This is not uncommon when you borrow audio-guides at museums.ĭuring our 90 minute tour, was informative and provided interesting commentary.
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license or passport) that she held onto in exchange for the headphones. We did have to provide her with a piece of identification (ie.
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And no matter how close or far we were from her, we could hear her. These headsets amplified her voice but her words remained very clear.
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Our tour guide spoke excellent English and explained how the opera house can get very busy and crowded and rather than try to speak over all the voices, she would speak into a microphone and we would be able to clearly hear her using special headphones. Interesting fact #1: the Pythia sculpture was done in bronze by Marcello who was actually a woman, Adèle d’Affry, the Duchess Castiglione-Colonna. Throughout much of the Paris Opera there are symbols of Greek mythology and as you head to the Grand Escalier (Grand Staircase) you pass by La Pythonisse (or Pythia), priestess of the god Apollo greets you. The Rotonde des Abbonées is a circular room or vestibule that has pillars on the perimeter, mosaic tiles on the floor, and a very decorative ceiling.